a blog by Maureen Cohen
exoplanet scientist @ Uni of Edinburgh
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What does the past mean to people today?
Our beliefs about the past help define who we are and how we live in the present. Dr Sarah Kurnick, assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder, in the US, studies how ancient Maya peoples at Punta Laguna, Mexico, perceived their own history. The Maya who live in Punta Laguna today play a key role… Read more
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Do you speak sustainability? Webinar now available in the CIOL Webinar Library
On 4 July, I presented a webinar on the language of sustainability for the Chartered Institute of Linguists Experts’ Week. If you are a member of the CIOL, you can now download the full video from the Webinar Library (“Do you speak sustainability?“) .
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Stratospheric wind and water vapour fluctuations on tidally locked exoplanets
Wind currents in the Earth’s equatorial stratosphere change direction every 26-28 months. Abundances of ozone, methane, water vapour, and other trace atmospheric gasses oscillate on the same timescale. This phenomenon is known as the “quasi-biennial oscillation” (QBO) and also occurs on other solar system planets (Jupiter and Saturn), though with different periods. It occurs because… Read more
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How sustainable is your food?
Modern food production and trade have countless impacts on the environment. Sustainable food systems are indispensable for future food security, but how can we assess the environmental sustainability of food? Dr Carole Dalin, a sustainability researcher at University College London in the UK, is developing integrated environmental indicators to track progress towards sustainable agriculture. Read the article at… Read more
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Turn off the stars: Image processing and astronomy
Picture a two-dimensional grid, like a chessboard or a piece of graph paper. Each square on the grid contains a tower of blocks. These towers come in different heights, ranging from zero to 255. “Towers” with zero blocks are black, towers with 255 blocks are white, and every number in between is a shade of… Read more
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Can mentoring help poets thrive?
How important has mentoring been in the creative industries? This is what Professor Will May from the University of Southampton in the UK is trying to determine. He has used his findings to establish Poetry Ambassadors, a mentoring programme to support young poets and help them to develop their creative abilities. Read the article at Futurum Careers!
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How poverty contributes to antimicrobial resistance
Overuse of antimicrobial drugs creates dangerous resistant strains of microorganisms. Yet in some places of the world today, it is impossible to get by without them. Medical anthropologists Professor Clare Chandler and Susan Nayiga, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK, study how conditions in Uganda force residents to rely on antibiotics on a daily… Read more
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How do we get more women on company boards?
Despite progress in recent years, women remain underrepresented on company boards. This is a problem: research shows that companies with women in top positions benefit in numerous ways, including through networking and family-friendly policies. Dr Helen Kowalewska of the University of Oxford is investigating differences in countries’ social policies to understand how the UK could improve gender diversity at… Read more
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What if we could do psychology experiments in virtual reality?
Virtual reality is opening new doors for research in psychology. Based at the University of Kent in the UK, Professor Markus Bindemann and his team build photorealistic, 3D avatars in virtual reality to study face perception and person perception. Read the article at Futurum Careers!
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Edinburgh Women in Space 2021 conference talk: New frontiers in exoplanet science
I was invited to give a 10-minute PhD lightning talk at the Edinburgh Women in Space Conference from 26-28 March 2021. Here’s the talk, with a brief non-technical overview of recent exoplanet science and my research.
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